What a legacy!

The world lost a great man in April...Grandpa Hauck passed away.  The family gathered in North Dakota to celebrate his 92 years of life.  Cousins came from as far as Guam and Florida!  

It is pretty incredible to think about the experiences that he had in life.  From a life of simplicity, to farming, time in the service including Pearl Harbor, raising 9 children, and leaving behind a dedicated wife and a huge family including 29 grandchildren and 30+ great grandchildren!

Grandpa, you are missed.  Your smile, quiet laugh, and sense of humor.  I love that you passed these qualities along to my pops, showing him and all of us to take life a little less seriously and focus on the important things.  Thank you for setting a wonderful example for all of us!

Rest in peace, grandpa!  The irony of funerals is that they can bring people closer together.  It was truly moving to have the opportunity to reconnect with cousins I haven't seen in years, even under these circumstances I see the blessing in this opportunity. 

Here I am with Megan, Aeden, Eliana and Raylee:

So many boys, so little time!

Baby Eli and Eliana are around the same age!

Eliana got to meet great grandma for the first time.

Grandma and many of the great grandkids.

Grandma and 27 of the 29 grandchildren:

Grandma and her children and many of the spouses:

My girls: Abby, Patty, Raylee, Kari, Megan, Becca, Eliana and I

As the caption says, 'what a legacy'!  Thank you grandpa for the wonderful memories and strong family that you left behind.

Easter 2014

Tyler and I hosted a lovely family gathering at our house on Easter Saturday for his and my family.  It was fun to get everyone together and fill our house with a good crowd.  We served sandwiches with options of brisket, ham, turkey and vegan grilled cheese.  YUM!

I didn't take many photos unfortunately but here I am with my favorite girls.



Pops and Becca making deviled eggs:

Our table, all decked out!

Eliana received so many kisses that day from Abby, she was a little overwhelmed!  But we were glad that Abby could join us.

Hopefully next Easter I won't be so delayed in recapping it.  :)

Engaged!

Tyler and I had so much fun on our engagement photo session with Kelsey and Kyle of Kelsey Lynne Photography.  I seriously felt like a movie star :-)
We strolled through downtown Issaquah and on the trail behind Pickering Barn.  Thankfully, we were blessed with some of the best weather in quite some time!
Here are a few of my favorite photos.

Many thanks to Kelsey for capturing these fun moments!  p.s. 84 days to go, people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Where do I start?

Auntie Joanie kindly reminded me that I am woefully behind on blogging today.  So the title of this blog is 'where do I start?!'
Needless to say, this has been a busy few months.

I'm always good at boring my readers with pictures of kitty Pogo, so I will start there.  She continues to be a well loved and fun companion!

happy anniversary, Tyler!

This week, we celebrated our 8 year anniversary.  Time flies when you are having fun  :)  It is cool to think about all of the memories that we have shared, and how much our lives have changed for the better since meeting each other.

Here we are 8 years ago when Tyler stole my heart by cooking me a steak dinner.




I'll spare you the sappy details, but let's just say I am feeling very blessed and honored to be Tyler's soon-to-be wife!

We celebrated at our favorite Issaquah dinner spot: Flat Iron Grill.

Cheers to many more years!

"family reunion"

Between illness and mom and dad traveling, March was a month of very little family time.  :(  Hopefully April will be much better.  Yesterday, though, we had a nice visit with the family and Becca and I got in even got in some good quality shopping time!

Eliana was a charmer, as usual.  Isaac was home for spring break even, so all was good!

Here are a few photos of 2 of the pretty girls in my life.

 

peek-a-boo is so much fun!  Sorry for the blurry iPhone photos!

Visit with mis novias

When I heard Team Eddy would be in Portland, I jumped at the opportunity to visit them and the Barsotti family.  It was so fun to see everyone, to relax and eat amazing food, to tour University of Portland, and have expert help planning our wedding ceremony. 

These two are just too cute!

As was Maple, our new friend.

If only these girls lived closer.  Oh well, it makes me cherish our time together even more.

On our tour of UP, we saw a very very fancy bible!

And a cool elevator!

The Barsotti house was an awesome gathering space, they deserve a big thank you for being wonderful hosts.  Here are Amy and Ellie enjoying an afternoon snack.

And the boys tinkering with a bluetooth enabled Lego gadget (Tyler was in heaven)

Noah is so talented!

And the kids had fun running in circles around the house!  

Thank you to the Eddys and Barsottis for livening up our weekend routine!  Can't wait to see you again.